Diageo is currently working with Exxergy to create a new coating for glass that enables light-weighting while maintaining the quality and strength of reusable glass containers. The companies claim that this solution has the potential to reduce glass emissions by up to 30%. John Cant, head of Diageo Sustainable Solutions, and Thomas Sauer, president and CEO of Exxergy, tell us more about the potential impact of scaling this technology across the glass sector.
I think it’d be useful to start with a topline summary – what is happening here, and how did this collaboration between your two companies come about?
JC: As a consumer goods company, packaging is an important area for us to consider as part of our sustainability strategy. A key challenge is how we can improve the sustainability of our packaging, whilst retaining our brand recognition and the premium element.
With glass the predominant packaging format for our products, we set ourselves the challenge of finding new innovations to make a very traditional format more sustainable, without losing its quality.
Through our start-up accelerator programme, Diageo Sustainable Solutions, we partnered with EXXERGY, Ardagh Group and 3DS, to trial how we can make our glass bottles lighter by using a coating to repair the micro-cracks on glass.
This means the glass is thinner yet stronger and can be made using fewer materials and less energy per bottle, without losing its strength and durability. After successful initial trials, we’re thrilled to be signing a new agreement to expand our trials and kick off a new phase in the journey to commercialising this technology.
This next stage of trials will test just how thin we can make the glass whilst delivering our iconic bottle designs, ensuring the bottles are strong enough to travel around the world delivering our precious liquids to consumers. We’re now exploring the limitations of weight, design and physical performance of glass, and how the application of this coating can enable lighter weight bottles whilst keeping brand recognition.
TS: Over a good number of years, we have developed a novel coating technology that can significantly increase the mechanical strength of glass, and as John said, the aim is to use that additional flexibility to reduce the glass thickness and in turn, the energy and resources consumption required in the manufacturing process.
In 2020, we became aware of a competition initiated by Diageo Sustainable Solutions. From this initiative, a very trusting cooperation has emerged and may I say, established.
Could you tell us a bit more about the coating? What is it made from, how is it created, what exactly are its properties, and does it affect the recycling process?
TS: Our coating is an organometallic compound that has the ability to react with the terminating Si-OH bonds on the glass surface. That coating builds “bridges” (technically, by forming covalent bonds) in the microcracks that are formed during the cooling and hot-forming process of the regular glass production process.
At that particular stage, glass usually loses approximately 99% of its theoretical mechanical strength. With our technology, we are in a position to make up for some of that loss.
One major advantage is that since the coating is embedded into the morphology of the glass surface and chemically contains elements that are contained in glass anyway, we expect any glass coated with our technology to be recyclable in traditional glass recycling streams.
Why is change like this necessary within the glass industry? What are the key parts of the industry that need to be improved, and what does a truly sustainable glass industry look like?
JC: When you look at drinks packaging, it has hardly changed in the last century. The drinks industry has consistently used glass bottles and if anything, they’ve got heavier as we’ve been conditioned to believe the luxury element is in the weight of the bottle.
But that perception needs to shift – it is the liquid within that is the luxury, not the container. We need to show that a lighter glass bottle is the way forward, that it’s accessible and possible to manufacture, and it works for the consumer.
We hope the thinner bottles will use less materials to make, less carbon to transport and less energy to recycle. The end result is a bottle that is more sustainable, providing benefits to both the consumer and the business.
The coating could also change the way we reuse glass. We’re also looking at how we can apply the coating to bottles that have previously been used, so we can extend their lifecycle and establish another route into a circular economy.
TS: As John says, the technology to produce glass has only marginally changed over the last century. What we’ve seen so far is improved energy consumption of glass melting. We have also seen some marginal weight decreases accomplished over time. For example, the average weight of a one litre bottle has decreased from approx. 580 g in 2000 to approx. 530 g in 2014, a roughly 10% reduction.
Part of the challenge that glass manufacturers are facing is that each investment decision requiring a significant technology change, results in a 15+ years commitment towards utilising that technology.
However, there is a big pressure to stay competitive with other packaging solutions, particularly related to carbon footprint. One of the driving forces for us is to support the glass industry in reducing their carbon exposure by offering a lightweight option, and therefore, a tangible alternative to plastic and other competing packaging solutions.
This announcement is just the latest step in Diageo and EXXERGY’s established relationship. What are some key learnings from the partnership and pilots thus far?
JC: The pilot has provided the opportunity and funding for EXXERGY to revisit some very promising results the company achieved over a decade ago. Working together, we have been able to prove the potential for this exciting coating.
The structured approach to the pilot has also highlighted some additional benefits, such as the ability to repair visibly damaged glass which is very exciting when we think about repairing and or extending the life of reusable glass bottles.
TS: For us, it has been a very encouraging journey, and frankly, without the support from Diageo, we would have gotten nowhere near where we stand today. The cooperation is not only about financial support but largely also about support working with glass manufacturers.
The Diageo team is very committed to making a tangible difference – they really mean it. We will certainly give our best to make this game-changer happen on an industrial scale.
Could you tell us more about Diageo’s Sustainable Solutions and its core objectives? How is success measured?
JC: Achieving our sustainability goals requires different thinking, new ways of making our products and innovative technologies. Ultimately, it requires collaboration and looking outside our business to acknowledge that we are one small part of a much greater ecosystem.
Through Diageo Sustainable Solutions, our open innovation accelerator, we invest in new technologies and partnerships with start-ups to develop solutions across our supply chain, from water efficiency to packaging to farming, that can improve how we do things.
We invest both time, resources and funding for pilots to enable start-ups to unlock new ideas and innovations for adapting our supply chain and growing our brands in a more sustainable way. The programme is about finding the future innovations that we can deploy to not only reduce our own impact but also benefit our business bottom line.
Since its launch in 2020, we’ve had the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented people on new solutions that could have real impact. For example, we’ve recently signed a global agreement with ecoSPIRITS, who have created a circular packaging solution for spirits, to trial their technology in up to 18 of our markets, which could be a game changer for delivering spirits more sustainably to the on-trade.
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